…the Bucs have downloaded their playbooks on iPad 2s and distributed them to each of their 90 players.

What’s more, players can use the tablet computer to reference video files of games, and practice and situational videos of any NFL team.

Just about every player on the Lightning owned an iPad last season. The year before it was a PSP. But Vinny brought an iPad to training camp 2010 and everyone literally flocked around it to have a peek.

There’s a lot of downtime while on the road and most of the coaches are usually watching video on laptops. Not only are the laptops bulky but moving from seat to seat on a plane with a running hard drive serving high quality video isn’t exactly the best thing for the long-term health of the machine.

The next iteration on this will be training tools within the video.

Take an iPad. Put video on it. And then create a Rosetta Stone-like app experience where the video runs to a point and the player has to make a choice (via finger gesture) of where the puck should go or who to cover around the net, etc. Sure, most players will still rather watch any of the recently released Hollywood movies they have stored on their tablet, but the ease of use and interactivity of such a coaching tool adds enough value to make it engaging for the player.